Mac (potentially) for Engineers/Developers who use Windows.. Recommended or not? What issues did you encounter?

 shabaz Hi, Now that I am awake.. you don't need to blow up a machine to see if you like the OS. check the LIVE images, most likely you will want the HYBRID ISO with the video drivers that you otherwise do not get.   Load the DVD when It finally comes up you are on a desktop! https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/  and you want this image...debian-live-12.4.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso 

~~ Cris H. 

How do you get updated graphics driver? 

I personally only backup my own "user" files since that keeps the size of backup reasonable. So that's all I have experience with. I don't prefer a full restore/switch because if I am switching to a new machine I want a clean windows installation and not carry over the bloat from my previous installation. For this, the Bvckup2 utility works very well! I think for a full mirror image of the drive this might not be very suitable...some other tools do that but I have no experience with those. Bvckup is a simple utility but does what it does very well, which is what I like about it.

This is a worry I have. Are all the various USB programmers that I have going to continue working or not. Maybe I need to be ruthless and just decide that some are used so infrequently that I can use a separate Windows machine for those on the rare occasions I need them.

I don't like that idea though. But currently open to it, will need to think more and also check out some of the machines, and also do that visit to see the Macs. Each time I look at the capabilities of the Macs, I'm super-tempted, but I also like a few of the Intel machines.

 anniel747 question first, which distro is it? I know Debian as I have been using it for both my server and my desktops. I also am using it for my media server. i am a Kodi user. if you use Debian see the comment to shabaz just above your question.  

Never been tempted by overhyped crapple stuff and never felt underpowered. Engineering software and hardware where always principally designed for Window$. HP Xeon servers, Asus gaming i9 self built desktops and Aorus gaming i7 laptops. Also a few old machines for historical compatibility. 

I've been running Debian on a Surface Tablet, and it's great, the touch-capability works well too.

The rest of the Linux boxes I have are all running Ubuntu for now, but I rarely use their desktops, they are just operating as servers to occasionally log into to perform builds.

Only curious how the process works compared to Windows. I get Intel graphics drivers updates at least monthly and most of the time weekly, Nvidia is another story. Kodi here too.

I've never been interested before, either.

I can see more GPU use in my future, and the processing capability and "Unified Memory" is getting interesting, i.e. being able to allocate more memory when needed to cover that for a few years at least, I hope. On the other hand, the Intel machines (probably i7 + decent GPU; the i9's are quite steeply priced) are highly attractive, too, as any decent PC is.

Whatever I do will be a compromise. If I make a mistake and accidentally end up with not the best choice for me, it's unlikely to become a complete disaster although it could become a minor or a major irritant!, so I reserve the right to whinge about it regularly! : )